Small included battery. Pointing stick is stiff. Lacks switchable graphics.

Bottom Line

A solid business laptop with an anodized aluminum finish, the HP EliteBook 6930p is ruggedized to withstand the rigors of daily use. But how elite is it?

What constitutes a computer for the elite? If there's anything in a name, HP may have the answer with its latest business laptop, the EliteBook 6930p ($2,104 direct). HP is out to create some separation between its new EliteBook brand and the EliteBook's predecessorsthe Compaqsby serving up a metallic look and up-to-date Centrino 2 parts. Aside from good looks, the new design is crammed with "business rugged" features. Whether it's the DuraFinish lid, the DuraKeys, or 3D DriveGuard, the 6930p is prepared to run marathons around the competition.

Industrial design is becoming a heavily weighted criterion among business professionals and IT managers. And it's based not only on looks but on how well a laptop can withstand the daily bumps and bruises of a typical workday (including the commute). The 6930p is a significant redesign of its predecessor, the Compaq 6910p, as the anodized aluminum exterior seems to be the new trend among consumer and enterprise laptops. About the only business laptops left that can get away with a conservative look are Lenovo ThinkPads, such as the X200 and the T400.

HP is calling the 6930p a "business-rugged" laptop, which means it passes several MIL-STD 810F military standards for dust and high temperatures but not enough military standards for it to be considered semi-rugged or fully rugged. An example of a fully rugged laptop, or a device that is certified for every single MIL-STD 810F test, is the GETAC B300. Being semi-rugged involves passing a subset of the MIL-Spec tests, and business rugged is a loose interpretation of the MIL-SPEC tests. The 6930p underwent nonstandardized drop tests, and the lid is coated in HP's DuraFinish, which is a fancy name for a scratch-resistant surface. The "Dura" moniker even extends to the keyboard: Every key is lightly textured to resist wear and tear. The DriveGuard protects the hard drive, which is shock-mounted like every other business laptop in its category.

Although the grainy keyboard didn't hinder my typing experience, in the way it feels it falls short in feel of the one on the award-winning Lenovo ThinkPad SL400. Even the 6930p's pointing stick felt stiff compared with Lenovo's superior TrackPoint technology. (You can always use the included touch pad instead.) At 5.3 pounds the 6930p is quite portable, with its smallish 37-Wh battery, but by comparison, the Lenovo T400 weighs only 5.2 pounds yet comes with a bigger, 56-Wh battery.
The 6930p's 14-inch widescreen is nice for in-office productivity, though 13-inch business laptops like the Dell Vostro 1310 and the Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-S1001X are better to take on the road because they're smaller and lighter. I do like, though, that both the 6930p and the ThinkPad T400 have 1,440-by-900 resolution options. Each is also equipped with LED technology, so you can save energy as well. When I placed them side by side, however, the T400's screen was brighter than the 6930p's. Both laptops have neat little nightlights situated above the screen for typing in the dark, though nothing beats a backlit keyboard, like the one found on the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn).

As for features, it was a tight race between the ThinkPad T400 and the 6930p. Both have three USB ports, a FireWire port, a webcam, and a fingerprint reader. The 6930p's dual-layer DVD burner can be swapped out and replaced with a second hard drive. The ThinkPad T400 also has a modular drive, as well as a Blu-ray burner option, although, at about $500, it's a bit pricey, and there is no read-only Blu-ray option. The 6930p has neither a BD burner option nor a BD read-only option. You have a vast selection of storage options with either laptop, including spinning and nonspinning hard drives. In our review systems, both HP and Lenovo went with a 160GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, opting for performance over capacity. I don't really have a preference, but the HP's integrated card reader (SD and MMC) is more permanent than the ThinkPad T400's 7-in-1 media-card reader option, which fits into the ExpressCard slot. The T400, however, has both ExpressCard and PC Card slots; the 6930p is ExpressCard only.

Both the ThinkPadT400 and the 6930p cover the gamut of integrated 3G services from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. HP, however, is offering Qualcomm's Gobi wireless, in which a single SIM card can access multiple carriers. This technology allows a customer to choose the fastest network available at any given time and is a valuable asset in international cities, with their roaming charges. (I haven't had a chance to test this feature out, but stay tuned.) In the end, however, the T400 squeezes by the 6930p, thanks to a fairly new Centrino 2 feature: switchable graphics.

The 6930p and the ThinkPad T400 have very similar performance configurations, making them an interesting comparison. With the integration of Intel's new Centrino 2 platform, these two business laptops are as current as they get. Both chose the top-of-the-line processor in the Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.8 GHz). An Extreme Core 2 Duo processor found in gaming laptops would be the next step up, and neither offers it for obvious reasons (heat, price, power usageand the fact that it's overkill on such systems.) Both configurations have 2GB of memory (expandable to 8GB), but the T400 uses DDR3 memory. Current DDR3 memory modules fully support Centrino 2's 1,066-MHz front-side bus, as opposed to DDR2's 800-MHz ceiling.

CineBench R10 benchmark scores showed the largest discrepancy between these two laptops: The ThinkPad T400's score was 26 percent higher than the 6930p's. The T400's lead on the other tests, however, was much less pronounced: Adobe Photoshop CS3 (+4 percent) and video encoding scores (+3 percent) just beat out the 6930p's. And SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall scores favored the 6930p by a 5 percent margin. Suffice it to say, these are modest differences in real-world scenarios.

The game changer came down to Centrino 2's switchable graphics, which only the ThinkPad T400 possesses. The 6930p's inability to switch between its ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 graphics card and an Intel integrated set is not a deal breaker, but it doesn't help its battery dilemma, either. The 6930p's 37-Wh, four-cell battery paired with the scorching processor rendered a score of 2 hours 18 minutesand that will be a deal breaker in the business world. However, you can choose to upgrade the battery to an 8- or 12-cell option, downgrade the processor (to a P8600 or P8400) to optimize battery life, or do both to get the best battery results. We were able to get in the 8-cell battery unit, and tested it using MobileMark 2007. The test reported a score of 4 hours and 4 minutes, a much-needed improvement over the 37-Wh battery. The ability to power down the ATI graphics core (without a reboot) would have significantly increased battery life. It worked for the T400 and its 56-Wh battery, boosting its 4-hour, 12-minute score on its ATI graphics to almost 5 hours on the Intel integrated set.

The last thing I want to do is portray the HP EliteBook 6930p as a subpar business laptop, because it's anything but. Does it deserve the EliteBook moniker? Sure it does, as evidenced by its performance scores and sleek yet rugged design. But if the 6930p is an elite laptop, then it's fair to say that the Lenovo ThinkPad T400 deserves a super-elite status.

About the Author

Cisco Cheng is the Lead Analyst of the laptop team at PCMag.com. He’s a one-man wrecking crew who tests and writes about anything considered a laptop (yes, even netbooks). He’s been with PC Mag for over 10 years and gets occasional headaches from all the technical knowledge he has absorbed during that time. He’d still be snowboarding and playing ba... See Full Bio

HP EliteBook 6930p

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.